Michelle K. Lee signs MOU with JPO

 

Businesses and inventors 

  • Protecting your intellectual property (IP) overseas - Find out how to protect your IP overseas and how to apply for a patent, trademark, design, or copyright overseas.
  • Get IP toolkits for more than 20 countries and regions on the StopFakes website. These toolkits provide detailed information about IP protection and enforcement in specific markets, along with contact information for local IPR offices abroad and U.S. government officials available to assist you.

U.S. companies navigating international IP laws

Navigating

IP attache Aisha Salem

international IP laws and foreign IP systems can be a daunting endeavor. IP attachés are IP experts who serve as U.S. diplomats in embassies and consulates around the world who:

 

  • Advocate to improve IP policies, laws, and regulations abroad for the benefit of U.S. businesses and stakeholders
  • Raise critical IP issues with foreign government officials
  • Provide training on IP law, enforcement and IP administration
  • Disseminate information to help U.S. stakeholders entering foreign markets or conducting business abroad

International patent applicants

Global Dossier banner with a globe in the centerGlobal Dossier provides all stakeholders – examiners and the public – access to the dossier information of the through a single portal.  With this tool, users no longer have to go through the time-consuming process of searching multiple databases, for multiple countries, in multiple languages to look at patent families, or applications for the same invention that are pending in different offices. There are fewer costs due to the availability of machine translated documents, and world-wide patent quality is enhanced because filers and examiners have access to more relevant prior art earlier in the application and examination process.

Patent Prosecution Highway - Fast Track Examination of Applications

Patent prosecution highway logo

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) helps businesses speed up the examination process for patent applications filed in multiple countries.  Under PPH, when one patent office in the program allows claims in a patent application, the applicant may request fast track examination of the corresponding application at other patent offices.  This helps applicants reach final disposition of their patent applications more quickly and efficiently than standard examination processing.  To date, there are over 30 participating patent offices in the PPH program covering more than 50 countries.

GIPA geodesic sphere logo

Education and training on international IP systems

The Global Intellectual Property Academy provides both multilateral programs and country-specific capacity building programs on IP protection, enforcement, and capitalization. Programs are offered to patent, trademark and copyright officials, judges, prosecutors, police, customs officials, foreign policy makers, examiners and rights holders in the U.S. and around the world.

International patent and trademark policy

We work with our international counterparts to share best practices, provide educational resources, and, perhaps most importantly, to formulate and adopt harmonized IP policy that makes it easier for business to grow and expand globally.

  • The IP5 is  a forum of the five largest intellectual property offices in the world that was established to improve the efficiency of the examination process for patents worldwide. The IP5 Offices account for 90% of all patent applications filed worldwide and for 93% of all work carried out under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
  • The TM5 is a forum of the five largest trademark offices in the world. Its mission is to promote cooperation and collaboration between its members through exchanging information on practices and programs for increasingly user-friendly and, if possible, interoperable trademark systems. Altogether, TM5 offices account for about half of all trademark applications filed worldwide.
  • ID5 - Acknowledging the growing importance of industrial designs to the development and commercialization of new products, the ID5 forum was established last year.  The ID5 Offices- US, Europe, Japan, Korea, and China- agreed to enhance collaboration, promote interoperable procedural frameworks, and streamline practices.